During a time when I was utterly frustrated with myself regarding my eating habits and body issues, one of my teachers responded to my tears and anger of “Why am I not changing, why am I not doing something different?” with this:

You do something until you don’t.

This statement conveys the perfect mix of both personal responsibility to continue with effort as well as with the unknown about when change will finally land and what exactly that shift will look like.

Questions to reflect on this week + steps to practice:

What is one area / thing in your life where you keep thinking to yourself, “Ugh, I always do this or act this way. When am I ever going to change?”

Hey all! As the United States prepares to celebrate “Freedom”, let us all over the world celebrate “f-READ-om” – the freedom to read what we want, when we want, and do it naked if we want (yes, we want)!

For centuries, being able to read was a mark of privilege and progress. Those who could read were held in high regard. Being able to devour books and literature at your leisure was set aside for the upper classes. Sometimes, even owning books was dangerous and could get you killed.

As time marched on, literacy became more and more prevalent until now we take the that very skill for granted. As a culture, we no longer savor reading. We no…

Beyond burkinis: why science suggests ALL clothes should be banned

A lot of people have been upset by images of French police forcing a woman to take a burkini off on a beach, in full view of the public, in accordance with the controversial French burkini ban. There are many reasons to be outraged by this ban: the suppression of individual rights and apparent hypocrisy in the name of “secularism”, the misogyny-tinged policing of women’s clothes specifically, the public display of intimidation, and so on.

All of these complaints are misplaced. The real problem with the burkini ban is, it’s too limited. Forbidding a specific type of swimsuit won’t achieve anything: we must ban ALL CLOTHES! And the sooner the better.

This may sound like a ridiculous notion. But, more ridiculous than banning a swimming costume in order to fight terrorism? I think not! Plus, there are many scientifically valid…